In this era of globalization, it will be really hard for you to find people who have not bought anything online. There are some people who are not comfortable with the technology have forced to either make the online purchase by themselves or with the help of others at least once in their lives. If not, then they still had exchanged money for goods more than once in their lifetime. Do you know why? Because retailing is not just an individual industry instead the way we eat, clothe, travel and perform any other task on a daily basis is connected to retailing. This involvement in people’s lives has made it compulsory for retailers to maximize their accessibility as well as connectivity. The increased competition in the industry has made the retailers attentive as well as responsive to the technological changes with the aim of building a strong and productive relationship with the customers. In response to these changes, many businesses have already moved to the cloud.
How can customer relationships with the retailers be maintained without offering valuable deals and discounts? Firstly, what does valuable discounts and offers means? These are discounts on the items that are preferable by the customers. This issue occurs because of the differentiated choices and preferences of the customers that are impossible to manage through traditional accountancy methods. For catering all these issues and compete effectively in the industry, the majority of the retailers have shifted towards POS software based on cloud computing. Do you know why? This new updated cloud POS software is using artificial intelligence for managing promotions while considering the specific preferences of the customers. This blog has listed the six general types of retail promotions that online POS systems are managing efficiently.
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Discounts
Discounts are the most preferred type of promotions that get the highest response from the customers. However, it is one of the trickiest businesses as well because it can have positive as well as negative impacts over the profit and branding of the company. Let me explain to you how! The pricing strategy is one of the thoughtful procedures for any retail store therefore; discounts cannot be placed randomly. And spending the same amount of time again in pricing reflects the company’s inefficiency. Therefore, cloud-based POS software has made it possible to offer discounts that are best in the company’s interest as well as engaging for the customers with just a few clicks.
But how exactly discounts can affect the branding of any company? Inappropriate and unjustified discounts can raise the question regarding the quality of the offered product. Plus, the discounting procedure should never forget the targeted segment because it can cost some serious potential customers. Amazingly, the artificial intelligence used in cloud POS software can manage it easily. Once you enter all your retail store data in the software, it will start suggesting amazing offers and discounts on important days that even you forget sometimes. And the real-time tracking feature of the sales makes it easy for retailers to identify the products that are the best sellers on a discount.
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Direct Emails
Communication is the key to success in any business. A monopoly usually does not exist in the retail industry because there is a number of alternatives available along with the opportunities for new entrants. Although there are some top brands of the world in each of the categories but even they can get replaced if they do not communicate with their concern customers. However, the way of communication may vary but one of the most professional medium for interacting with the customers is email. Many retailers are still managing email marketing for promoting their products manually. With Cloud-based POS software, these emails can be sent automatically, while the responses to the message can also be recorded that whether customers are opening the email or not. Plus, these systems can automatically generate emails for any event happening in the retail store, and on approval, it can be easily sent to all the customers (on the email addresses that have been saved in the system). Through this feature, daily offers, a list of new items added in the store and all the related information can be emailed to the customers without exerting any extra effort neither requiring an individual resource for handling this stuff.
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Create and Manage a Loyalty Program
Basically, loyalty programs are referred to the customized offerings/discounts that are offered to the customers based on their past history with the retail store as appreciation. The importance of these loyalty programs in developing customer satisfaction cannot be ignored. These loyalty programs cannot be managed through manual accountancy methods. The newly updated cloud-based POS software has the capability of considering the spending made by the customer, the specific products that have been consumed, the type of payments made and other related details. With this information, the system will automatically remind the retailer about the customer and will also be suggesting particular discounts for them. This individual attention of the company towards the customers will automatically improve their relationship. And in this era, the retail industry is highly dependent on customers and their loyalty.
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Promoting through Social Media
Promoting a retail store through social media sites is not as easy as it is sounding. As a marketer, your work is not done by just making deals and promoting it on social media accounts. The customer expects you to be responsive while being assessable. This means that the offers that you can handle remotely on social media have also made it compulsory for the retailers to make those promoted products accessible to the customers. How can you manage this through traditional accountancy/management practices? The POS-based on cloud computing lets the retailer manage their inventory and sales properly online. With this feature, they can reply promptly on the request generated through their social media campaigns without any time or geographical barrier.
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Organizing Events
It is one of the most preferred types of promotions by the retailers since forever! Even in ancient times when retailers were dependent on traditional management practices, they use to organize events for boosting their sales. The main barriers at that era for retailers were geographical and time limitations because, these events were restricted in the store and people can only avail these offers on the standard store timings. The online POS systems designed for retailers give the opportunity of spreading the good word of mouth about the events with the aim of informing and inviting the targeted audience. Plus, the cloud POS software for retail stores has made it possible for the customers to participate in the event and stay connected with the store without physically visiting the store. In their preferred and convenient time, they can avail offers from the organized events through online mediums. These events do not only help the retail stores in attracting new customers but it also keeps them engaged and connected with the store. Taking these practices on the cloud increases the market size along with the chances or maximized revenue returns.